Islamic Spring… Egyptian Belly Dancing Channel Is Out – “All-Niqab” Channel Is In

Posted by Jim Hoft on Wednesday, May 23, 2012, 8:44 PM

Egypt shut down ElTet belly dancing channel this week.The channel was “inciting licentiousness.” It had to be shut down.

Which means, no more ElTet belly dancing clips on YouTube.

The Egyptian belly dancing viewers will now be offered the “All-Niqab” channel instead – Where women will cover themselves in black blankets from head to toe.
Oh joy.Middle East Online reported, via ROP:

The administration arm of ‘Alummah’ channel is getting ready for the launch of “Maria” satellite channel in the Arab region. Its pilot broadcasts will start towards the end of this month, where all the staff including the broadcasters will be veiled women. No men or non-veiled women will be employed says Sheikha Safaa , the manager of the channel.

Even though these employment plans might be considered sexist, Sheikha Safaa seems to think otherwise. She has made it quite clear that the objectives of launching this channel is to offer veiled women the chance to appear on the screens and to empower other veiled women by activating their roles. She claims veiled women suffer marginalization.

Sheikha Safaa explained that the staff of the satellite channel will be all women, and men are not going to interfere in its general policies or programs quality. Even the owner of the channel will have only a consultative role based on his experience and skills in the field of media, she said.

“The affairs of the channel will be handled by the sisters who will be running the television channel, since women are more qualified to address and talk about their own needs”. She added Sheikh Abu Islam Ahmed Mohammed Abdullah, the owner of the “Al Ummah” channel and the new “Maria” Channel, said in a statement that “God willing, the channel will employ Muslim women graduates of various departments of media collages and institutions. This project aims at protecting women from temptations by finding them suitable work opportunities .”

valerie commented:

One would think that a belly-dance TV channel would be protective of Muslim women, both young and old. Belly dance is taught by grandmothers to young girls as preparation of childbirth, and it’s not supposed to be something men get to see. This TV channel was a way for women to learn different techniques without taking the risk of travel. Further, the dancers are protected from men, because they are never exposed to the viewers. It’s an ideal solution for a society that seeks to sequester women.

bg commented:

[Iran’s Basij Press is claiming that a version of the Gospel of Barnabas,
found in 2000, will prove that Islam is the final and righteous religion
and the revelation will cause the collapse worldwide of Christianity.]

bg commented:

[The top contenders were two Islamists and two officials from the Mubarak era. Muslim Brotherhood contender Mohamed Morsi battled Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh for the Islamist vote, while former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik challenged former Foreign Minister Amr Moussa for secular support. A dark-horse bid by nationalist Hamdeen Sabahi was expected to do well among liberals and leftists.

Lines stretched from polling stations in Alexandria, Cairo, Suez and across the vast southern deserts as Egyptians democratically expunged an autocracy most of the country's 82 million people were born into. The skies over the capital were clear, and umbrellas popped open to block the sun as voters waited to cast ballots amid soldiers and police.

"The whole Middle East is watching what we're doing today," said Shaaban Abdel Khalek, a worker in a water pump factory. "All the countries dreaming of democracy are watching. We dreamed once, but we were told we could never have it."]

bg commented:

[“The Iranian regime is committed to stamping out Christianity by any means necessary, whether that means executing Christian converts, burning Bibles or raiding underground churches,” said Erick Stakelbeck, host of the Christian Broadcasting Network’s “Stakelbeck on Terror” show and a close observer of Iranian affairs. “In promoting the so-called Barnabas Bible – which was likely written sometime in the 16th century and is not accepted by any mainstream Christian denomination – the regime is once again attempting to discredit the Christian faith. Record numbers of young Iranians are leaving Islam and embracing Christ, and the mullahs see Christianity as a growing threat to their authority.”]

southernsue commented:

Gary commented:

MT Geoff commented:

I’m all for people living as they choose, so long as they leave others to do the same. If there’s a market in the Middle East or the US for veiled women reading the news and engaging in chat and doing cooking demos, let the producers produce and the viewers view. If there are no willing belly dancers to perform, or viewers to watch, let the channel languish with Air America.
BUT — this is a different situation. The Islamists intend to force the people of Egypt to wear Islamist chains. The saddest part is that the people of Egypt seem enthused about fastening the locks with their own ink-stained voting fingers.

Gary commented:

i thought there would be a thread on here today about that muslim on Hannity last night.
These muslims try to make arguments about what is Islam and what is simply local culture.
Well, local culture is disappearing all over the Middle East, and what is replacing it is Islam.

If these people won’t stand up to it, I won’t say they deserve to see their cultures erased, but I will say they are bringing it on themselves. The ancient Buddhas being blown up by the Taliban before 9/11 should have been the wake-up call.

Actually, if you look at one of those world history timeline books, you can see that some of the Middle Eastern societies were way ahead of Europe in various math, science, and technology areas centuries ago. But it just slowly slipped away, starting somewhere around 600 a.d.

MT Geoff commented:

#17: Howdy Gary
There’s a lot of truth in what you say. Islam is a thought-system or a religion or a way of life that’s meant to dominate all elements of a person’s thinking and behavior.
Let’s be just a bit careful here, though. So is Christianity and so is Judaism. Both religions call on their followers to meditate on God’s Word and God’s Law at all times and in all they do.
Christianity and Judaism were also part-and-parcel of their governments, as a review of the Church in Middle Ages Europe or a review of the Old Testament will show. In many ways, the Romans were more tolerant of religious diversity in the Empire than Christian kings and popes would be from the Nicene Council until the Enlightenment.
As Islamism becomes a stronger voice within Islam, and less tolerant of anything that smacks of heterodoxy or heresy, local culture does get submerged under the Islamist identity. Note that the Arabic language covers a huge geographic area where many languages thrived before Islam. Convergence of culture can be beneficial or harmful; Islamist culture, alas, seems harmful to me.
I want to respect individual Muslims and even Islam itself, without being a follower (I respect Judaism and LDS but I don’t follow either faith), but the Islamist influence is an ugly and a dangerous thing.